Member Briefing: August 18, 2017

Bike share – everywhereOn August 1st, the Triangle had no active bicycle share programs. Now we have two in place, and two more coming – four different vendors, in three different communities. NC Central (Zagster) and NC State (LimeBike) began this month. UNC Chapel Hill (Gotcha) starts in September. And Raleigh (Bewegen) will launch in 2018. The beauty of having multiple systems – and vendors – is that each one is tailored to a specific campus and/or community, and the region can learn together and share lessons from these various pilot implementations.

Electric buses are coming to the TriangleRTA and several other partner groups have been pushing to accelerate our enhanced transit future, and let go of our old transit past. RDU Airport is leading the way this week by approving four new electric buses (by RTA member Proterra) that will begin service in 2019. The region has also submitted a federal grant application for seven additional electric buses, supported by RTA and both of our US Senators. We will find out by October 1 if we are successful.

More funding for RDU to advance improvementsOnly a few weeks after gaining significant state budget support to improve airfield infrastructure, RDU received confirmation of a federal grant that it will use to rehabilitate its general aviation taxiway and advance the implementation of the Vision2040 Master Plan initiative. Air service development is economic development – and air service development requires the funding needed to reinvest, modernize, and enhance RDU. Our partners at RDU have consistently made a strong business case and we support these successes.

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